Occupy Main Street

It’s a call for action every season when Holiday Shopping is around the corner;   Shop your local businesses!   As Occupy Wall Street battles on, with the hope that the gap between the wealthy and the poor ceases to grow, small town businesses try to capture market share from corporate giants like Walmart.  These niche businesses, who are often supporting lifestyle entrepreneurs, their families and their employees’ families, continue to fight their corporate competitors to stay alive during these difficult economic times.  Not able to compete in price because of their limited buying power, they instead hope to entice their consumers with a more unique product assortment and exceptional customer service.    

Studies show that doing business with locally owned businesses of all types will result in more local jobs, stronger community-based organizations, and even lower taxes. Out-of-state corporations pay fewer – or no – local taxes.  Every time you do business with a corporate behemoth instead of a locally owned business, you contribute to the concentration of wealth away from our communities – enabling the very problems they’re protesting on Wall Street. Every time you buy from a box store or a faceless online vendor instead of from your neighbors, you send jobs away from your community and limit your selection of unique merchandise.
Why then, are most consumers oblivious to the daily struggle of these tenacious small business owners?  Most consumers are unaware that their shopping habits might have an affect on the long term economic health of their community.  Do we have an obligation to shop our local businesses and stay away from the likes of Walmart, and if so, how does Walmart continue to succeed while local small businesses are closing their doors? Beth Carroll